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Newsletter #9

4 September 2008

Time's ticking

19 Applications received … 10 Licences granted

December deadline essential to guarantee licensing

If we have not received your licence application by 12 December we cannot guarantee your licence will be processed by 4 May 2009. Despite numerous reminders at workshops, in newsletters and a concerted phone call campaign, the rate of applications is much lower than expected. This points to a potential licence processing logjam next year.

With limited resources at the Authority, we simply will not be able to process applications in time unless there is an immediate major increase in applications. If applications are received by 12 December – at the very latest – it will allow us time to complete our pre-lodgement checks and provide you initial feedback. Adding time to the process is the fact that we require information from several outside agencies and we are dependent on their turnaround times before we can progress applications. Naturally, we would prefer receiving applications immediately rather than receiving a deluge in December.

Remember, the impact of not being licensed by 4 May next year is that you will not be able to practise as an immigration adviser.

New faces at the Authority

Meet Melanie Ogle and Gracie Li, two new faces at the Immigration Advisers Authority.

Melanie Ogle

Melanie is a Licensing Assessor who will be assessing adviser applications. She comes to the Authority from 10 years in London where her assessment experience included work for the Big
Lottery Fund and the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.

Gracie Li

Gracie is a Licensing Administration Officer helping with the all-important lodgement process and other office administration duties.
Gracie previously worked for the Canadian Embassy in China, ASB Bank in Auckland
and the ANZ Bank in Singapore in administrative
roles before joining the Authority.



Agency certificates critical to speedy licence granting process

Licence applications are dependent on information from other agencies, so it’s important that you obtain your IELTS and Ministry of Justice certificates early, along with your Adviser Activity record from INZ.

Ministry of Justice advises that it takes 20 working days to process a criminal records check. As you know, offshore criminal checks can take significantly longer. Please call or email us just prior to submitting your application to check we have received your Ministry of Justice record. We may return your application if we have not received the Ministry of Justice record directly from them.

Just a further reminder, we are aware that IELTS testing is very busy in Auckland in December and January, so you need to book early. There are testing places available in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch before December. Click on www.ielts.org and go to New Zealand for a testing centre near you.

Areas of Responsibility

Licensing Administration Officers:
Jenny Lin
Gracie Li
  • All enquiries
  • Application process support
  • Police certificates & INZ activity record
  • Receiving complaints

Business Manager:
Jay Typoco
  • Register of licensed advisers
  • Licence certificate & wallet card
  • Website content

Senior Adviser, Professional Standards:
Meredith Cook
  • Education & Continuing Professional Development
  • Code of Conduct policy
  • Fitness for licensing

Team Leader, Licensing
Assessment:
Melissa England

Licensing Assessor:
Melanie Ogle
  • Licensing assessment

Team Leader, Investigations:
(To be appointed)
  • Investigation of complaints & offences
  • Audit of advisers

Contact us

As always, please feel free to contact us on info@iaa.govt.nz, freephone 0508 IAA IAA (0508 422 422 — New Zealand only) or write to us at PO Box 6222, Auckland 1141, New Zealand. Or you can visit us at: www.iaa.govt.nz

Barry Smedts
Registrar of Immigration Advisers

Licensed professionals = Protected migrants